Behind Blue Eyes
by yamanakakurenai
Summary: Ino decides she's had enough, her team isn't helping her prove at the pace she'd like to. Determined to prove she's stronger then she appeares she heads off and faces more then she expected in life. It was harder then she thought..
1. Chapter 1: Everything Starts Out So Well

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto  
**Story/Plotline: **Are mine do not steal.  
**Pairings: **Slight Ino/Shikamaru

**Chapter one:  
Everything starts out so well**

_'Left..Right..jump.'_ Were the thoughts of a young blond girl, whom happened to be training. "Crap.."The blond muttered,

getting hit across the face by her opponent. A pant escaped her lips, as her eyes narrowed at her opponent. The ground underneath the two was marked either from missed blows or just from weapons. Her surroundings field..and trees, nothing to leap off of unless you got close enough to the trees. Sweat trickled down the girl's forehead, falling silently to the ground.

"Shikamaru.."The girl grumbled,

getting up quickly. Ah yes, this happened to be a training session with team ten, the second generation Ino-Shika-Cho Trio. The girl went to go step forward, only to be stopped by her shadow being grabbed.

"Not again.."

The girl said almost nervously, now having to stand still. Well, this happened to be the blond Yamanaka Ino, and her team mate Nara Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru! Let me go right now before I hurt you!"The blond growled yet again,

not being able to move still and trying to calm herself down. The black haired boy just stood there,

"Remember, I'm training you for the next few months in the forest."He had whispered,

watching her. He released her shadow, starting to walk off. He yawned, walking back over to his sensei. This made Ino start to twitch,

"Jeez, why did it have to be you that's going to train me?"She asked,

brushing off her all purple showy clothing. She fixed the bandages that were around her legs and most of her body, fashion statement people guessed. Her blond hair blew in the wind some, standing near her sensei now. She looked up at her sensei,

"Why do I have to go into the forest with him!" She yelled,

angrier then ever. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She didn't understand why Shikamaru, out of all people had to go with her. Why couldn't it be Sasuke or just someone else? Yes, this Sasuke was her crush, she always had a crush on him, that's what broke her friendship with Haruno Sakura. Believe it or not, Ino was once friends with Sakura, though now turned into a rivalry. Ino was believed to be the weakest of her team, and that was what made her want to work harder, but she never agreed to this staying with Shikamaru for five months, alone! She sighed,

"Asuma-sensei, five straight months?" She asked,

seeming to be distressed. She let out a small whimper, glaring coldly at the ground as Asuma gave her another speech about how important it was to be there for team mates. Was she strong enough? Didn't she prove that in the exams? No, she wasn't able to beat Sakura, but she didn't lose! Anger started to build up within her, as she stood there her hair shadowing her eyes some. She stayed quiet, listening to the sensei of hers go on and on about being loyal to the team and having made a promise to train with someone, if she lost in the training sessions. Sadly, she had lost to both Choji and Shikamaru, which was quite sad in her point of view. She finally just lost it,

"Shut up already! Whatever, I'm not as strong as Chouji and Shikamaru, Shikamaru is a genius and Chouji, well I can't explain that!" She yelled,

her eyes narrowing at her sensei. She stood straight and proud, as her two other team mates stared at her like she was crazy. Her hands now balled into fists, ready to punch anyone whom wanted to rant to her again.

"I want another fight, Shikamaru fight me again! This time think of me as a normal opponent, not your team mate!"She yelled,

glaring at the black haired one now as she stood there. The black haired boy, known as Shikamaru, just stood there a little surprised at the girl's actions.

"Fine, No holding back." He whispered,

stepping over to the field and letting her get into position first before he did too.


	2. Chapter 2: A Willing Soul

**Chapter two: A _willing_ soul**

Indeed, this girl was crazy, going against a genius who was the first to become Chuunin first. Ino's now icy blue eyes glared at Shikamaru,

"Fight me with everything you got!" She yelled,

smirking some. It was that same cold field, nothing changed from the last time they had fought. He was the one to make the first more, his shadow leaping outwards. But, the problem was Ino knew this trick well, way too well. She jumped backwards, into a trees shadow and just stood there.

"For a genius you sure are stupid!"She snickered,

raising an eyebrow as he ran at her. She ducked one of his punches, putting her arms over her face as she dodged another. She was hit back a few times, not having enough time to dodge.

"I don't need any jutsus to beat you."Shikamaru said,

punching her in the stomach. Soon, Ino's back hit a tree as she slid down on her butt, she covered her face with her hands.

"How..could I lose?" Were the words that came from her lips,

as she let a few tears slid down her face, not removing her hands. Just now, she made a complete fool of herself yet again, losing to Shikamaru. Once Shikamaru put his hand down to her to help her up, she hit his hand away, standing on her own.

"I'm fine."She growled,

crossing her arms and looking at her sensei whom nodded to her. Now, she had to go into the forest of death with Shikamaru, which she really didn't want to. The thought of leaving this very night crossed her mind, but she knew she wouldn't be able to make it on her own. She walked over to her sensei, whom was now named Asuma or Asuma-sensei.

"Yes, I know.. I have to go with Shikamaru into the forest now, but why can't I go alone!" She demanded to know,

as she glared at her sensei. Just because she was a girl didn't mean she wasn't strong, she happened to be one of the very skilled kunoichi's in this village. No, she wasn't able to become a Chuunin due to not being able to make it to the final rounds of the exams. So, she had stayed as a Genin, but knew she could of won if she hadn't fought her rival.

"You will be leaving Tuesday night, where you'll meet Shikamaru at the gates." She heard her sensei say,

which she only nodded to. That gave her three days to get together what she needed, and maybe even escape from this nightmare. Though, she wasn't sure if she wanted to escape or not, running away into the Forest of Death alone was never a good idea, but if that's what it was going to lead to then fine. A smirk lit up on her quite beautiful face, having a plan in her head already. Tonight was going to be the night she was going to leave, but she didn't know someone else had similar plans to hers.

'Tonight..I'll go somewhere else by myself and show them, that I can defend myself.' She thought,

bowing to her sensei and starting to move for her house. She glanced back, noticing the black haired one follow her. An eyebrow raised on the girl's slightly tanned face,

"Can I help you?" She asked,

sighing and just turning to watch him. Shikamaru seemed to stop also, looking at her for a second before shrugging,

"This is the way to my house." He had said,

shaking his head and walking around her. Ino blinked, rubbing her head some and just walking off towards the flower shop. The flower shop happened to be her home, well the top half of it was her home. She slowly opened the door, twitching when the sudden bell rang, alerting someone was entering. She sighed in relief when her father was no where to be seen, probably off on some mission or something. A smile lit up her face, as she locked the door behind her and quickly made her way up stairs, but switching the flower shop sign to 'closed' first. Once up in her room, she pulled out a small backpack starting to throw stuff in it.

"Clothes..water..bandages..medicine..just in case." She named everything,

zipping up the backpack. With that she heard the door open downstairs, quickly shoving the backpack under her bed and laying down on her bed, with a book none the less. She pretended to read the book, listening to her father walk up the stairs and into his own room.

"That was close."She whispered,

looking to the clock. The clock read seven o'clock, and she hadn't really planned when her escape was going to happen. She laid there on the bed, thinking things over for a good hour or so...


	3. The great escape and hard feelings

Chapter three:

**The great _escape_ and _hard_ feelings**

The clock finally stuck twelve am, and the blond girl was just getting ready to jump out her window. Hating this height, it didn't seem to matter to her at the moment. She had left a note on her bed for her father to find, and had slung the backpack onto her back. She jumped down from the open window, landing on the ground with a light 'thump'. She ran off towards one of her team mates homes, taping a letter to his door. The letter read:

'Dear Shikamaru,

I'm sorry but I'm going to prove myself worthy of being on the team, don't try to find me you'll have no luck. Please tell Asuma-sensei that I am sorry too, I'll be back in a month or so.

Love,

Your team mate Yamanaka Ino' And that was all,

the letter was then taped to his door and she turned. She sighed, thinking about where to go and finally decided that some other village will do for now. She walked forward, seeing two familiar people ahead of her. She hid behind a tree, not wanting to be seen by the two. The two happened to be a pink haired girl and a raven haired boy, listening to their conversation Ino was. The night Ino had planned to leave the village, another certain raven haired boy had also planned on leaving too. The raven haired boy, happened to be her crush and the pink haired girl, her rival. She wondered what was going on, but went wide eyed when the pink haired girl now known as Haruno Sakura, admitting her feelings to the raven haired boy, now known as Uchiha Sasuke. Her hands balled into fists,

'How dare she! Admitting her feelings before I had the chance!' She thought,

hearing that the boy was going off somewhere to get more power in order to defeat his betraying brother. She then glared at the ground,

'What's so great about forehead girl! She sure as hell doesn't have the looks, and what guy likes smarts in a girl anyway?' She thought,

sitting on the ground and sighing. That was it, Ino had, had enough of being here, Sasuke probably only liked Sakura because she was strong. She nodded, knowing what she had to do and ran towards the forest of death.

"I'll prove I'm strong, prove that I don't need anyone to protect me." She whispered,

breaking the chains off the gate with a kunai. She stepped into the forest of death, smirking some and closing the gates behind her. How long was she going to be in there? Who knows, but she wasn't going to come out until she was strong. Once morning had stuck, two people from the village were missing, Uchiha Sasuke and Yamanaka Ino, were reported missing. But, Sasuke had a witness and that witness had told her own sensei about where he had gone. Ino on the other hand, only left a note one for her team and the other for her father. Shikamaru, was actually beginning to worry, where could have Ino gone? That question was on everyone's mind, well not everyone, just the people that knew the blond girl. The question was even in the young pink haired girl's mind, even if she was Ino's rival, it didn't mean she couldn't worry about her ex-best friend. Shikamaru took a look at the letter again, thinking of places Ino would go.

"Did you check all the shops?" He had asked the pink haired girl,

Sakura nodded, with a light sigh. Shikamaru just looked at the letter again, that was all they had left of Ino at the moment. He had gone to her house this morning, asking her father if she was anywhere to be found and got no luck whatsoever.

"Ino..where are you?" He whispered,

looking at the ground for a moment, as an idea s tuck the genius. It took him a month to remember that, Asuma-sensei had said that she needed to become stronger, that's probably what she was doing. But, that also meant she went into the forest of death alone, without him.

"I know where she is." He said,

looking at the three people in front of him. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and her other team mate Chouji. All three of them looked at him confused, having no idea where the blond would have gone, they left it up to him. It had already been almost a month after Ino's disappearance, finally Shikamaru had come to a conclusion of where she was. This time, it was defiant.


End file.
